The present invention relates in general to a traveling suitcase. More particularly, it concerns with a multi-purpose traveling suitcase which helps a traveler alleviate the troubles involved in having too many pieces of baggage while traveling, and is an improvement of our U.S. Patent Pending, Ser. No. 08/502,889, filed Jul. 17, 1995 by JOSEPH CHEN and RUI-TANG CHEN.
A traveler is usually inconvenienced and burdened by the numerous suitcases and the like he carries with him. Most especially, when the traveler has a baby, a baby cart or a stroller becomes a necessity, and the situation worsens. To minimize the inconveniences, various innovations, such as a foldable, compact, lightweight stroller to lessen the burden of a mother; an expandable wheeled pull along cart to help move heavier baggage; or a foldable lightweight sitting stool to alleviate the fatigue caused by long time waiting for a ride , etc., are introduced. Helpful and convenient as these are, they also pose considerable problems: when they are not needed, such as when the baby is in the mother's arms, or when the traveler is taking a ride, these aids all at once become burdens themselves. To alleviate the aforementioned inconveniences and burden of a traveler, said U.S. Ser. No. 08/502,889 filed Jul. 17, 1995 provides a multi-purpose traveling suitcase which can be used as a hand carried suitcase, a pulling suitcase on its rear wheels, a wheeled baggage carrier, a baby stroller, and a sitting stool. It is compact, lightweight, rigid and versatile.
However, while said multi-purpose traveling suitcase of our pending application is generally satisfactory in achieving its intended objectives, it is also found to have the following shortcomings, namely:
1. When the scissor-like support of the multi-purpose traveling suitcase of our pending application is extended to form a steerable pushing cart, and the swinging case is swung up to form a chair-like body, the handle bar on the swinging case also elevates to a position and height which is convenient for pushing, pulling, or steering of the cart. But if the swinging case is not swung up such as when the chair-like formation of the body is not needed, the handle bar is at its lowest position and is not accessible to the traveler's hands, resulting in a four wheel suitcase without a pushing or pulling handle.
2. As the multi-purpose traveling suitcase of U.S. Ser. No. 08/502,889 is divided into a fixed case and a swinging case, the length of either cases is only about one-half the length of a standard suitcase, and is inconvenient when the suitcase needs to accommodate longer objects such as a folded shirt, a dress, an umbrella, etc.
It is then an objective of the present invention to provide a multi-purpose traveling suitcase which is compact, rigid, light in weight, convertible and versatile in its use as a carrying suitcase, a pull-along suitcase, a baggage cart, a baby stroller, and a sitting stool.